POSTPRANDIAL LIPID CHANGES AFTER ORAL FAT LOAD IN HEALTHY PROBANDS

Aim of the study was to analyze post-prandial lipid changes after an oral fat load (400 g cream) in normal probands (n = 15). In addition we studied the uptake of postprandial VLDL by macrophages. Whereas total cholesterol (Chol), and HDL-chol did not change, plasma triglycerides (TG) (from 91 +/- 37 to 181 +/- 80 mg/dl) and VLDL-TG (from 27 +/- 18 to 41 +/- 26 mg/dl) increased significantly, with a maximum at 3 h after the oral fat load. These changes were interindividually very different and depended neither on lipoprotein or hepatic lipase levels, nor on basic lipid levels. Different post-prandial VLDL-fractions, isolated before or 3 and 6 h after the fat load caused a comparable lipid accumulation in macrophages. It seems very likely that also postprandial lipid elevations may play a role in foam cell generation.